Amazon updates Appstore for Kindle Fire, readies for war with Android Market

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Google makes some great software, but no one knows how to sell better than Amazon. In preparation for next week’s arrival of the new Kindle Fire, Amazon has overhauled its Android Appstore with a new interface and usability features. Until now the Appstore has been stuck in the shadows, requiring a separate download, forcing it to play second fiddle to the omnipresent Android Market.

With the Fire, all that changes. Amazon’s own Appstore will be fully integrated and featured from day one. Fittingly, Amazon has rolled out Appstore 2.0, with a very appealing visual layout, to ensure its users never look back, or miss the Android Market. The first change Appstore users will notice is the gray and orange color scheme — perfectly in tune with the trendy colors featured for the Fire. It also makes the Appstore much easier to read, and more appealing to browse.

Beyond the cosmetics, the Appstore update also adds parental controls — useful for a family-oriented media consumption device like the Fire — and faster download speeds. More importantly, Amazon has started to flex its retailing muscles, adding the ability to make in-application purchases, buy subscriptions, and have magazines automatically downloaded and managed by the Appstore. Expect the user experience of the Appstore to rapidly surpass Google’s own Market application, as Google traditionally has had difficulty selling direct to consumers, and Amazon is the best in the world at online consumer experiences.

The upgraded Appstore is also a little easier to browse than its predecessor, with larger menu items and areas for individual applications — probably the result of plenty of testing on the upcoming Kindle Fire. It adds the ability to preview the permissions needed for an application, although at this point how many users can, or even try, to sort out what all the different application permissions mean is questionable.

Ironically, given Amaon’s heritage selling books, the Amazon Appstore only features applications. That seems obvious, but Google has insisted on cramming books and movies into its Market interface — whether or not the user has ever expressed any interest in either. Of course Amazon already has an Android application for browsing its main store, including books and streaming video, but expect to see more media-specific browsing and shopping tools from Amazon as the Fire rolls out. The new Appstore continues to feature lots of useful categories and sub-categories for applications, making it much better for application discovery than the eye-candy tiled interface of the current Google Market — which is ironic given the billions Google has made presenting users with useful, uncluttered search results.

For frequent Appstore users, the Recommended application section builds on Amazon’s retail data analytics, learning from your previous purchases, then suggesting additional applications and games which might be of interest. While the new Amazon Appstore for Android is hardly earthshaking, and certainly won’t make any iPhone fans envious, it is the beginning of what will be a very compelling consumer experience as Amazon rolls out more of its Android-based Kindle strategy.

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Hold on! Let me check my “address bar” that I’m still on ExtrimeTech web site and not on ExtrimeMarketing.
And the statement: ” … and certainly won’t make any iPhone fans envious,…” kinda shows who’s “Market Development Funds” are used … or craved for.

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

Okay, I’ll bite, SAL-e, what features in the Amazon Appstore do you see that will make iPhone fans envious? I use the Amazon Appstore every day, along with the Android Market, but I haven’t found anything exciting enough about either of them that I’d brag about it to my iPhone toting friends. But clearly you feel otherwise. Fill us in.

http://trochevs.myopenid.com/ SAL-e

I don’t care about features in this case and looks like you didn’t spent much time on them either. I need to find other site to tell me more about them. What I care is the way information is presented. Let’s start with the title: “Amazon updates Appstore for Kindle Fire, readies for war with Android Market”. The first part is ok. I don’t use Amazon Appstore so I really want to read about it, but then going to war with Android Market?! Really?! Why not going for war with Apple’s iTunes? After all we are talking about Amazon and Jeff Bezos here. He doesn’t go after #2 (if we believe that iPad+iTunes is better). No Amazon always goes after #1. So either Android Market place is #1 and your title make sense or Amazon is now afraid to go after Apple.
But your title makes perfect sense if we put it in context of Apples marketing statements that Kindle Fire will fragment Android even more.
But to answer your question: “I haven’t found anything exciting enough about either of them that I’d brag about it to my iPhone toting friends.” Actually the answer comes from Apple it self. Until now they market and protected the iTunes as keystone of the iOS platform. But once Amazon’s plans become apparent they rushed in to build iCloud. So you might not see anything in Android Market and Amazon Appstore, but Apple sees it very clearly.
Where I come the wise man sad: “While two people are fighting, the third is winning”. This is the simple illustration of Apple strategy. Trying to redirect Amazon vs. Google while they have time to catch up. But I would bet on Jeff Bezos. He is far smarter then that. He know that Google’s Android is powering his goal and he will strike a balance between Google and Amazon while he goes after Apple’s price.

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

SAL-e–Obviously in the big picture Amazon (and Google) are of course going after Apple’s market share. But today’s news is the updating of Amazon Appstore from version 1 to version 2, timed to coincide with the launch of the Fire, and to help make sure Fire users (who will have the Amazon Appstore, but not the Anroid Market — at least not pre-installed) have a great experience.

And that is what this article is about. We (ET) have certainly written already, and will again, about the bigger battles between Amazon, Google, and Apple, but in this case the article is addressing something much more tactical. Sorry if you felt the title was mis-leading.

http://trochevs.myopenid.com/ SAL-e

Ok. David, If we are talking about small tactical aspect of the current events. You miss the target again. Is it Google or Apple? I see Apple as target not Google’s user base. Why? Let’s talk about the details.
1. Yes, there is no Android Market on Kindle Fire. What could be the thinking behind this decision? Thanks to Apple’s marketing Google’s Android Market is the WWW (Wild-Wild-West) in the mine of many potential users. So many users are scared to commit to Android. Can Google fix this yes they can, but they have to violate some of the corner stones of the Open strategy that Google is going after. So by not having Android Market on Kindle Amazon kills the vector of counter-attack from Apple.
2. Is Amazon against Android? No, they are not. Exactly opposite. They provide their services to any capable Android device. So if you are afraid to use AMP you can use Amazon Appstore. Both sides win. Android user don’t have to surrender to Apple and stay with better choice of devices and good service from Amazon. Amazon wins the all content sells to Android users. Until Amazon starts building own smartphone, Android is strong ally of Amazon. They might change their strategy later, but for now they don’t have to because Kindle Fire users are Android users. If I am happy Kindle Fire (Android) user witch phone is more likely me to buy? iOS or Android?
So even with narrow time-line view Amazon is going after Apple not Google. But for some strange reason everyone is repeating the theme song that started in Cupertino.

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

You seem to be pretty stuck on this whole Apple inciting fragmentation thing. I’m neither driven by, nor too concerned about that. I’m commenting on the Android market and two big competitors working to create a user experience to attract sales.

Fair point though that Amazon _also_ needs to make sure that it can ultimately offer a superior product to the one from Apple, since that is where the big bucks are.

But don’t lose sight of the fact that Amazon & Google are also going head to head for share of customer revenue for apps, media, and ultimately ads.

http://trochevs.myopenid.com/ SAL-e

Sure David, Amazon and Google are going after the common user base and profits, but in a bit different way. This does not means that they don’t have common interest and can’t work together.
For example IBM, Oracle and RedHat are strong competitors to each other. They are after the same big corporate users. Never the less, those companies are one of the biggest contributors to Linux. I wonder why is that. Is it because they have realized that in the long run collaboration is better then trying to build a Monopoly.

Anonymous

“The first change Appstore users will notice is the gray and orange color scheme — perfectly in tune with the trendy colors featured for the Fire.”

ExtremeTech has been rocking the gray and orange for 10 years now. Was ET inspired by Half-Life?

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

Sounds like a good rumor to start…

http://geek.com sal cangeloso

That’s a good question. I actually don’t know. I have some of the original design docs but they don’t have creative references/inspirations etc. My guess if that it was just a stroke of brilliance by someone on the Ziff Davis design team.

http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony

Hrmmm… the timing is actually very close — 1998 for Half-Life, and 2001 for ExtremeTech… and the guys behind ET almost certainly played and enjoyed HL.

More importantly, though, who in their right mind would make an orange-and-grey website unless it was inspired by something as seminal as HL? :)